Network Steganography for Secure Communication: A Survey

Abstract: A steganography is the science of sending secrete messages between the sender and receiver. It is such a technique that makes the exchange of covert messages possible. Each time a carrier plays a major role in establishing covert communication channel. This survey paper has more about network protocols to be used as a carrier. There are a number of protocols available to do so in the networks. TCP/IP protocol suite has been a potential target for network steganography from the very beginning. It has a lot of possibilities for creation of hidden channel that can be used to communicate covertly. This paper depicts the technique that creates a covert channel using the Overflow filed of Timestamp option of Internet protocol, version 4, over a Local Area Network. This technique implements a storage area network steganography that uses the timestamp option which is used to hide information by modifying protocol header fields, such as unused bits of a header, or the data field of a packet.

Keywords: Cryptography, Steganography, Protocol, Steganography, Covert, IP4